Boys Soccer: La Salle wins stunner in shootout

Standing along the one sideline with his La Salle College High teammates, the junior goalkeeper watched and supported the Explorers as they tried to score a goal against Archbishop Ryan.

He also rooted on Nick Higgins, who was stationed in goal for the Philadelphia Catholic League semifinal match.

But as the match began to approach an ending, La Salle head coach Bob Peffle let D’Angelo know he should begin stretching and get ready.

Like a closer in baseball, D’Angelo might be called on to shut things down late.

Sure enough, neither the Explorers nor Raiders could find the net during 80 minutes of regulation, or in 30 minutes of overtime play.

The first entrant into the PCL championship would be decided by a shootout.

D’Angelo was on. The first two players for each side were all successful in putting the ball in the net. But after Ryan’s third attempt hit the left post and bounced away, and La Salle’s Frank Russomano put the fourth straight Explorer attempt in the net, D’Angelo took center stage.

Ryan’s Michael Kirby stepped to the ball. He had seen D’Angelo dive left on the previous three kicks, so Kirby’s shot went to the right side, but D’Angelo this time went in that direction, stopping the shot for the save.

The Explorers mobbed the goal and D’Angelo, La Salle winning the match, 4-2 in penalty kicks after playing to a 0-0 tie, and advancing to the Catholic League final.

“I couldn’t let my team down,” D’Angelo said of his thoughts as he entered Saturday’s match after 110 minutes of play. “We’ve worked so hard to get here. I don’t want to see them go out on this. We’re defending champs and that would be disappointing.

“We wanted to get back in the championship, that was our goal for this year. I was telling myself we were not going to lose this PK shootout, that I’ve got this.”

The final will be a rematch of last year’s final, La Salle facing Father Judge. The Crusaders defeated St. Joseph’s Prep in the second semifinal, 1-0, Saturday at Ryan.

Originally, the championship match was to be played Tuesday evening at Ryan, but Hurricane Sandy has altered most plans for the next few days. The PCL is now tentatively slated for Wednesday night, 8 p.m., on the turf at William Tennent High.

“When you work for three months with these guys, they have their strengths,” said Peffle, who won his sixth PCL title last year. “Higgins has done a real nice job for us, but for PKs, we believed Anthony was better.

“I told Anthony as the game was getting late, I told him to be ready. We told him that if this went to shootouts, he’s on.”

Ryan had been the only PCL team to defeat La Salle this season, the Explorers now 17-2-1 on the year. The Explorers had their chances during regulation and in overtime Saturday, but neither team was able to score. Higgins was solid in goal for La Salle while Jared Ott was unblemished during play for Ryan, as well.

“We knew coming in it was probably going to be a difficult game,” senior defenseman Ben Wild said. “It was our only loss in the Catholic League. They beat us, 2-1, earlier in the season.

“We just kept reassuring ourselves it would come, it would come.”

The goal never came, but the kicks sure did.

Wild was up first for La Salle, his shot high and left going in. Jack Dusing made it 2-1 for La Salle by taking the same flight path as Wild, Mark Grasela going low and left for a 3-2 lead.

“It definitely sets the tone for the whole shootout,” Wild said of planting that first shot in net. “If I make it, it also gives Anthony more confidence in there.”

After Ryan’s third attempt hit the left post, Russomano made it 4-2 in kicks. Then, D’Angelo ended the match with his deflection.

“I was thinking if I could just get one (save), my team is going to win this,” he said.

“I figured that since he saw me dive the other way the other three times, he was going to go the other way. I knew before that he would go that way.”

D’Angelo guessed right and La Salle was on to the final.

The Explorers met Judge in the championship match last year at Ryan, winning that one, 2-1, in overtime.

Good things seem to happen for La Salle after the 80th minute. At that point in Saturday’s match, D’Angelo was just beginning to get warmed up.